The present technology relates to a power control device, a power management device and a power management system.
At present, the use of energy storage equipment is on the increase in corporations and ordinary households etc. The energy storage equipment, which is equipped with storage batteries that can charge and discharge electricity, can obtain power through power generation equipment utilizing natural energies or can store electricity that is purchased from an electricity company.
At the present time, of power that is stored by the energy storage equipment, power that exceeds the power consumed by an owner of the power generation equipment and the energy storage equipment is bought back by an electricity company. In the future, when it is likely that the use of power generation equipment and energy storage equipment will spread even further, along with advancing power deregulation, it is conceivable that there will be an increase in people participating in electricity trading, through trading of electricity in an energy trading market. If there is a high possibility that profits can be obtained through participation in an electricity market, it is thought that there will be an increase in people who adopt power generation equipment and energy storage equipment and attempt to participate in the electricity market.
Here, an energy storage system has been proposed (refer to Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2002-233053, for example) in which fluctuations in electricity prices are predicted in accordance with an algorithm, electricity is purchased and stored in energy storage equipment when a low price is predicted, and the electricity stored in the energy storage equipment is sold when a high price is predicted, thus attempting to obtain a profit.